LED lights are known which use stamped sheets (also designated as “metal stampings” or “leadframes”), for connection and for mounting the LEDs.
DE 100 14 804 A1 describes a light module having two conductive tracks which are stamped out of a sheet and are encapsulated by a substrate material made of plastic. The conductive tracks and the substrate material together form a substrate for a plurality of series-connected LEDs. For production of the substrate, the conductive tracks are stamped out from a sheet, wherein transport strips and connection bars for stabilization of the stamped sheet remain for further processing. The transport strips and connection bars are removed at a later time. After the stamping operation, the conductive tracks are encapsulated with a plastic that serves as substrate material in order to produce a permanent mechanical connection between the conductive tracks. In this case the side of the conductive tracks to be equipped with the LEDs remains free of plastic. The fastening of the LEDs takes place by a SMD soldering technique (SMD stands for “surface-mounted device”), in which the conductive tracks are provided with a soldering paste, then equipped with the LEDs and finally are heated by infrared radiation from a melting furnace so that the soldering paste melts. In this way LEDs are connected to the conductive tracks.
In order to carry out the method described above, an injection molding machine is necessary in order to encapsulate the conductive tracks with a plastic to produce the substrate. This is technically complex, expensive and moreover necessitates a very large quantity of plastic, which moreover must meet high thermal requirements during the soldering process. For this purpose the DE 100 14 804 A1 uses resilient plastic in order to enable a certain adaptability of the light module to different forms of lights. Nevertheless, the bending properties and thus the flexibility of the light module is restricted due to the substrate material.